June 28, 2025
St Mark United Methodist Church
Atlanta, Georgia – USA
The Art of Conducting Academy Orchestra; Quinn Mason, Robert Botwinski, Justin Han, Charolette Wang, Noah Mittwer, Alexander Wilkerson, TAOC Academy conductors (in order of appearance); Logan Souther, associate conductor.
Antonín DVOŘÁK: Serenade for Strings, mvt I
Antonín DVOŘÁK: Serenade for Strings, mvt IV
W.A. MOZART: Symphony No. 29 in A Major, mvt I
W.A. MOZART: Eine kleine Nachtmusik, mvt II
W.A. MOZART: Symphony No. 33 in B-flat Major, mvt III
W.A. MOZART: Symphony No. 29 in A Major, mvt IV
Franz Joseph HAYDN: Symphony No. 68 in B-flat Major, Hob. I/68
Ben Dollar | 1 JUL 2025
This past Saturday, the MainStage Performance and Emerging Maestros Conducting Competition concluded the 2025 season of the Georgia Festival of Music with a double-feature evening highlighting the work of six student conductors in The Art of Conducting Academy.
The first half of the evening’s program, hosted at St. Mark United Methodist Church, featured the emerging maestros, fresh from a busy week of score reading and rehearsals, leading The Art of Conducting Academy Orchestra in individual movements of old favorites by Dvořák and Mozart. In the second half, GFM Associate Conductor Logan Souther took the podium to conduct the Academy Orchestra in the first recorded performance in Atlanta of Haydn’s Symphony No. 68, a rarely-heard work from the middle period of the classical titan.
After remarks from Souther and Maestro Michael Palmer, GFM Artistic Director, the six contestants of the evening took the stage in succession. Quinn Mason and Robert Botwinski conducted the first and fourth movements, respectively, of Antonín Dvořák’s Serenade for Strings, a work which only confirms its enduring popularity each time it is heard. Justin Han and Alexander Wilkerson directed the first and last movements of Mozart’s Symphony No. 29 as bookends to two to intervening pieces by the same composer: the slow movement of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, conducted by Charolette Wang, and the third movement of Symphony No. 33, conducted by Noah Mittwer. Together, the four movements formed a patchwork quilt of a complete symphony in four movements, a choice no doubt intentional on the part of Maestro Palmer and TAOC students.
All contestants gave balanced readings of the works conducted with noble restraint and fluid technique, and Mason carried the evening with his elegant interpretation of the first movement of the Dvořák serenade. Han deserves an honorable mention for a well-paced and sensitive reading of his Mozart, a scintillating movement which demands unstinting attention from orchestra and conductor alike, and total connection between the two.
After the interval, Souther gave a few preliminary remarks before launching into the Haydn symphony. Dating from Haydn’s middle period, Symphony No. 68 was composed in 1779 for Nikolaus Esterházy, his patron. The same year Haydn was able to renegotiate his contract with Esterházy, of whose household he was kapellmeister (essentially a head musical servant), to shift some elements decisively in his favor, including the right to publish his own music for profit.
Though the relative chronologies or Symphony No. 68 and the contract are murky enough to leave such thoughts at the level of conjecture, one can’t help but wonder if the numerous musical jokes inserted in the work reflect an ebullient mood from Haydn in reaction to his fortuitous renegotiation. Parody and play are very much present throughout the four movements of the symphony; the stark dynamic contrasts of the third movement might have succeeded in waking a napping Esterházy. Overall, the music does not leave one with a feeling that it has been unjustly sidelined from the standard orchestral repertoire, especially given Haydn’s earlier and later moments of brilliance in his symphonic output. Though the first and last movements contain some interesting material, the third movement especially tends to musical prolixity. In the first movement, Souther’s choice of observing all the repeats in the work lent a balance appropriate to the galant character of Haydn; in the third movement, this choice led to an apparent tendentiousness, though perhaps this too is a joke on Haydn’s part–was Esterházy given to long-winded speeches?
The Academy Orchestra was the recipient of well-considered nod from Mason upon the reception of his award, and they won an additional ovation from the audience at curtain for their sensitive playing throughout the evening. Led by concertmaster Rachel Ostler, the musicians of the Academy Orchestra, who hail from the major ensembles of the Atlanta area, including the Atlanta Symphony, Atlanta Opera, and Atlanta Ballet Orchestras, acquitted themselves expertly. Despite a few moments of inaccuracy in the stratospheric horn parts of the Mozart pieces, and faced with extremely limited rehearsal time and a program of music with some treacherous moments, the orchestra deserved every moment of applause it received.
Overall the evening afforded more than enough inspired music-making in both halves of the program to be well worth the price of admission. The evident talent of the emerging maestros provided an additional inspiration to the audience in the form of an assurance that the classical and romantic repertoire continues to fascinate musicians and audiences alike, and that programs such as TAOC provide invaluable opportunities of feeding that fascination. ■
Conducting competition winner Quinn Mason and GFM artistic director Michael Palmer.(courtesy of Quinn Mason)
EXTERNAL LINKS:
- Georgia Festival of Music: g-fm.org
Read more by Benjamin Dollar.
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